Commodore's race to Lodi State Park

The Finger Lakes Yacht Club had their annual "race" to Lodi State Park. About 10 sailboats left the Harbor Marina at Watkins Glen about 10:30 AM on the way for an unofficial race to Lodi State Park followed by the Commondore's picnic at the park and an overnight on our boats.

The race was run under typical Seneca Lake winds - flaky! On Hattie L we chugged along, but several times got up to 7 mph - exciting for us as relative newcomers to the sport.

Several miles short of the destination, the winds just up and quit. At that point, almost everyone fired up the cast iron sailes and motored the rest of the way.

Anchoring was done successfully and Mary and I took a swim and the water was refreshing, but not too cold.

During the picnic, we got weather forecasts predicting winds up to 60 mph from the west. Since we were on the east side of the lake, it was decided that a run to the west side would be in order. Mary and I were the last to arrive and anchored a little deeper that three other boats - as we were setting the anchor, the storm hit. A lot of rain in a short period of time with only mild winds.

In the morning we realized we were lucky to have anchored a little deeper. The seaweed is heavy this year and the three other boats near us had a lot of seaweed to clean off their anchors, we had only about 50 pounds or so.

After a nice breakfast at Rainbow Cove, we headed south under no winds and light rain conditions - motoring all the way. In the afternoon, after we got back, the winds came back.

But that is the story of Seneca Lake - winds or not - and you can't even depend on winds from a specific direction.

Summer continues onboard Hattie L

Can't believe that it has been so long since the last post. Summer goes way to quickly. Yesterday we had what may be our best ever sail. We tried the 150 Genoa for the first time and find that the boat is much easier to sail with the larger foresail!

No photos of us sailing well yet - but one of these days. As with any older boat, there are little things to keep us busy - repacing a port light, replacing port seals, trying to get a successful pumpout when the marina has three adapters and need four.Still, will try to come back sooner and do a better job of keeping up with Hattie L.